Skunk Scout by Laurence Yep

Teddy's idea of a good vacation is a triple-feature at the movie theater. So when his uncle invites him to go camping, he is more than a little reluctant. To make matters worse, his know-it-all little brother, Bobby, is coming, too. Teddy practices his camping skills in his Chinatown apartment and watches Wilderness Scout for tips, but nothing can prepare him for his meeting with Mother Nature. Soon Teddy, Bobby, and Uncle Curtis find themselves in the woods, sleeping on rocks, and battling raccoons, mosquitoes, and poison oak. Through it all, Teddy is determined to prove he is just as smart as his little brother. But the worst is yet to come. A hike leaves them lost in the woods-and is that a skunk coming down the path?

Laurence Yep, born in 1948 in San Francisco, is a well-known writer of fiction for young adults. He has also written and edited several works for adults. Yep was educated at Marquette University and holds a Ph.D. from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Yep is Chinese American. He grew up in a black neighborhood in San Francisco, attended school in Chinatown, and later attended a predominately white high school. Much of the subject matter for his work comes out of his experiences trying to establish his own identity as a child and teenager. He writes about the experience of the "outsider" or "alien" and perhaps that is why his first writing was science fiction. Sweetwater, his first novel, was published in 1973 and is a work of science fiction. His second work Dragonwings published in 1975 is widely acclaimed. This is a work of historical fiction that deals with the Chinese American experience of the 1930's when many immigrants came to this country. Yep has gone on to write many other stories about Chinese Americans. He has also written mysteries, two of which have as the main character Mark Twain as a reporter in San Francisco. Yep has written fantasy works such as Shadow Lord and Kind Hearts and Gentle Monsters. Yep has won numerous awards for his work included a Book-of-the-Month-Club Writing Fellowship in 1970, the prestigious Newbery Medal Honor Book, and the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award several times.

Publishers Weekly

In a sequel to Cockroach Cooties by Laurence Yep, Teddy's uncle gives him a weekend camping trip as a birthday present, transforming him into a Skunk Scout when he gets sprayed by the offender in the woods.